Monday, September 17, 2012

the weekend off and some trail dog training

What was supposed to be a laid back restful weekend with no plans turned into a great weekend of riding. I had hinted around to Melinda that there was a ride in the works on Buffalo for Saturday morning but she wasn't interested. I didn't want to commit to taking off for the day and leaving her at home alone to deal with the dogs by herself, I say the dogs, it's mostly Ocho. Late Friday evening she made a ride plan of her own so I was good to to go on Buffalo.
 
The route plan was to head up the newish Pinnacle Firetower trail to the top and climb up into the firetower and have a refreshing beverage. That was accomplished but only after the crowd cleared out. We have a bit of a tallboy can crushing contest amongst friends that basically goes like this. Crush a tallboy can and see who can get the can to crush down the straightest without shifting.
 
 
 
My attempt atop the firetower, probably my best one yet, even Anthony was impressed. Rob, not so much, he informed me that it needed to be a 22 oz. not a 16 oz. Sheesh.
 
Anyway after some much enjoyed refreshment we decended down the Buffalo/JC side of the mountain via some fireroads, ATV trails and singletrack. It was good fun, some downed trees were moved, some crashes were had and some blood was left on thorns by all.
 
After all the good downhill fun was over we proceeded to make our way back to the top via the fireroad slog of a climb. It's been a while since I've done this climb and I forgot how much it sucked, I misjudged my re-fuleing needs and had to raid my emergency food stash which really isn't much but it got me to the end of the ride and the drive home.
 
We did get to end the ride on a good note, down the Pinnacle trail at which point I was beginning to bonk a bit. With only pancakes, a clif bar, a gel and a Shift in my belly I opted to sit in the back to not hold anyone up or cause a pile up as I was feeling pretty jittery. It was a great day and an awesome ride.
 
 
 
 
On the dog front, it's crazy to see how fast little Ocho is becoming bigger Ocho. He's growing so fast I feel like I should be documenting his growth with pencil marks on the wall. The first day we brought him home he couldn't reach Moonshine's water bowl, after a week he was drinking from it with ease
 
 
In the truck he's pretty chilled out, we've been hesitant to put him in the back much because he's not scared to jump out the windows. Moonshine, Melinda and I have already begun his "trail dog" training. We've started out slow with short hikes but I have a feeling he'll be ready to chase us on bikes in a few months.
 
 
 
The fall flowers were in full bloom at Warriors last week.
 
 

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